There is a saying in college basketball: “There are no freshmen in February.”
Now, I gotta tell you, I am not sure I agree with all that.
I think it depends on the context, but in general, I get the point.
By now, most guys should have adjusted to the physicality of the game. Thankfully for the Cats, Malachi Moreno has done just that.
Coming into the season, it was supposed to be a huge step up for Brandon Garrison, with Moreno playing a smaller role until Quaintance came back. Then Malachi would get the chance to ease into action as he acclimates to the physical grind that is the SEC.
But Brandon Garrison was ineffective, got benched, and Jayden Quaintance has only played four games. The pressure piled on Moreno, and he has delivered in a way that wasn’t expected of him this early.
Malachi brought the heat against Tennessee
“How physical was Malachi offensively in the post tonight?” Head coach Mark Pope said after the win. “We could have milked him a lot more. He was just a monster. He was so determined in the post offensively.”
When Moreno was needed the most, he answered the call.
Despite the individual praise, Moreno remains focused on how the team has grown over their past eight wins.
“We’re very physical… I don’t think many players on the team are concerned with how many points they score… they’re just concerned with winning, and that’s the recipe for success.”
The rest of the team is starting to buy into it. They are coming together in a way that didn’t seem possible when all the locker room rumors were flying around. They are still not all the way there, but they are much better today than in December. And a large portion of that can be attributed to the way that Moreno has stepped up.
Now, he is creeping into the first round of a few NBA Draft projections, so a one-and-done scenario no longer seems far-fetched. Not many saw that coming, but the Kentucky kid is on his way to a special season, one that Kentucky desperately needed.
